New Unlimited beverage package

[Pam in KY]

There was a new unlimited beverage package (good for alcoholic drinks, sodas, specialty coffee, etc) offered on the Nieuw Amsterdam and another ship last month on a trial basis. Does any one know if this is still offered and if it has been extended to other ships...specifically the Eurodam? This may make a difference as to how much soda we might bring on and whether or not we will bring on wine.

[dobiemom]

I may be mistaken (I often am, just ask DH ;)) but I thought it was offered on chartered cruises only.

[alwaysfrantic]

It was available on the Zuiderdam last month.

[Pam in KY]

It was offered on the Nieuw Amsterdam about 6 weeks ago and it wasn't a charter cruise.

It was 39.95/day for drinks not over $7 and no more than 15 per day. You had to buy it for the week and everyone over 21 in your cabin had to buy one. It was my understanding that Holland American was trying it out. We didn't think it was such a good deal because of going ashore at ports and because we don't drink that much but since we don't plan to go ashore on this cruise we wanted to re-evaluate it...and not have to worry about lugging on soft drinks and wine.

[sandbox]

This package was offered on the Noordam when we were on it in January.

Its is not unlimited..15 drinks max and is no good for happy hours as you will not get another drink for $1.

If I remember right it was $39.99 and only good for drinks up to $8.00.

[innlady1]

It was offered on the Ryndam in January. I didn't think it was a particularly "good deal".

[dag144]

I just got off the Eurodam on 3/23. The package was offered on the ship. Drinks are a little more expensive, but the happy hour has been extended. Hours were 4 to 8 pm each night and another at 10 to 11pm. Different bars were used for different hours and were clearly marked in the daily program.

 

Happy hour prices are standard for drink one and a buck for the second drink. Some premium brands are not offered.

[Joe Schmoe]

we were on the Niuew Amsterdam for the Mar 17th sailing ...and they had the Pkg. Its listed in some of the Papers they give you..in your cabin..and NOT posted around the ship like on X...

 

It was 39.95 pp EVERYONE over 21 in your cabin has to buy it...and unlike the "classic Pkg" on X... NON alcoholic drinks do INDEED count towards the meager 15 drink per day limit...also..the drinks have to be priced UNDER 7 bucks..which excludes many, many drinks on the drink menu. I suspect they will.. tweak those pkg offerings...in the future...

[Ship's Wake]

Sounds like the same beverage package being offered by Carnival. I see no problem in it, as it gives them another way to make revenue that on the surface does not appear to result in service and amenity cuts.

 

I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to feel compelled to take in even more calories each day to get my monies worth, so for me it doesn't work.

 

As others have mentioned, the cruise lines make their money on beverage packages on port days when you're not on the ship and unable to drink as much during the day.

[Pam in KY]

I just got off the Eurodam on 3/23. The package was offered on the ship. Drinks are a little more expensive, but the happy hour has been extended. Hours were 4 to 8 pm each night and another at 10 to 11pm. Different bars were used for different hours and were clearly marked in the daily program.

 

Happy hour prices are standard for drink one and a buck for the second drink. Some premium brands are not offered.

 

Dag144: The above quote is from the first thread that asked about this. Are you talking about the card that costs 39.95/per day that you must purchase on ship and for entire cruise. The card can be used for wine, cocktails, beer, sodas, water...up to 15 per day...or are you talking about debit type card for beverages that you can pre-purchase and where the cost of each beverage is deducted from the total cost.

 

Still trying to decide if this is a good deal. Ship services tells me they do not know if it is offered on the Eurodam...making it hard to make a decision about whether to carry on wine and soft drinks.

[elusive_23]

Just did the March 17-24 sailing on the NA and my fiance and I signed up for it. It is 39.95 per day and all passengers over 21 in the cabin need to purchase. We found that we didn't even come close to breaking even on it (we are 27 and 28 years old) We averaged 4-5 drinks per day, if that. We would of had to average 7 drinks a day. We thought this would be easy to achieve! Oops!

 

-Drinks on HMC are not included.

-A 15% service fee (tips) is added on top of the 39.95 fee. So it came to around $321.

-Drinks that come in souvenir glasses are not included... they charge you separate for the cup.

-Drinks have to be under $7. You can't get a $10 martini and charge $7 to the beverage card and $3 to your account.

-You are to only buy one drink at a time but a few times we got around that. (I think it is because most of the bartenders are still unsure of how the program is run. We actually knew more about the card than the bartender when we were signing up!)

 

What we also discovered is that the card is much like a regular beverage card because they load around $735 on the card. Each receipt we got we could see the balance go down. I am not sure how they monitor the drinks per day on it.

[Modern_Viking]

Just did the March 17-24 sailing on the NA and my fiance and I signed up for it. It is 39.95 per day and all passengers over 21 in the cabin need to purchase.

...

-Drinks have to be under $7.

...

What we also discovered is that the card is much like a regular beverage card because they load around $735 on the card. Each receipt we got we could see the balance go down. I am not sure how they monitor the drinks per day on it.

 

Doing the math: 7 days * $7 per drink *15 drinks per day = $735.

 

So, perhaps you could go over 15 drinks on one day if you stayed under on other days. Maybe.

[AZNative2000]

Just did the March 17-24 sailing on the NA and my fiance and I signed up for it. It is 39.95 per day and all passengers over 21 in the cabin need to purchase. We found that we didn't even come close to breaking even on it (we are 27 and 28 years old) We averaged 4-5 drinks per day, if that. We would of had to average 7 drinks a day. We thought this would be easy to achieve! Oops!

 

-Drinks on HMC are not included.

-A 15% service fee (tips) is added on top of the 39.95 fee. So it came to around $321.

-Drinks that come in souvenir glasses are not included... they charge you separate for the cup.

-Drinks have to be under $7. You can't get a $10 martini and charge $7 to the beverage card and $3 to your account.

-You are to only buy one drink at a time but a few times we got around that. (I think it is because most of the bartenders are still unsure of how the program is run. We actually knew more about the card than the bartender when we were signing up!)

 

What we also discovered is that the card is much like a regular beverage card because they load around $735 on the card. Each receipt we got we could see the balance go down. I am not sure how they monitor the drinks per day on it.

Thanks for posting this. There is no substitute for personal experience. And congratulations on your upcoming wedding!:)

[Hlitner]

It is amazing how competition makes HA consider trying some new things. HA seems to be late to the plate on most new things...but they do eventually get to the right place :). Celebrity has been offering various drink packages for several years, and recently started offering big promotions which include the cost of the drink package in the booking price (their 1-2-3 promotion). Apparently it has proved very successful at Celebrity....so not surprised to see HA at least experiment with a similar program.

 

Hank

[Tampa Girl]

There seems to be some confusion as to whether it is 15 drinks a day or a total of 15 for the week for the price of $39.00. Either way, I don't see how this is not a good deal for alcohol drinkers. Even it is for a total of 15 drinks over seven days, at $6.00 a drink, it totals $90. If you only have one drink a day (is that possible?), it would cost $42 plus SC. And if the limit is 15 drinks a day, the savings is substantial. Am I missing something here? I am assuming, of course, that the drinks are alcohol. It may not be a good deal for non-alcohol drinkers.

[George C]

We are on Maasdam in 26 days, I see nothing about this on Hal site, are you offered this once you board, not sure if we will get it or not.

[Pam in KY]

The one I am asking about is 39.95/day and must be bought for the length of the cruise ...7 day cruise would be about $280 + 15% gratuity. It was sold only on the ship... Nieuw Amsterdam last month as a trial. Someone on cruise critic said it was also offered on the Noordam. .

 

It is not on Hal's side and customer services knows nothing about it at all...we asked twice.

At this point I am assuming it will not be offered next week on the Eurodam...but really wish I knew!

[Tampa Girl]

My mistake. I was thinking it was $39.95 a WEEK! Slight difference.